咲けばかつうつろふ山の桜花
花のあたりに風な吹きそも
花のあたりに風な吹きそも
- Roma-ji
-
Sakeba katsu utsurou yama no sakurabana hana no atari ni kaze na fuki so mo
- English Translation
-
As soon as they bloom
they begin to fade away—
cherries of the hills;
round about the blossoms, wind,
do not blow, I beg of you.
- Meaning
- Mountain cherries begin to fade the moment they bloom—wind, please don't blow anywhere near the blossoms.
- Commentary
-
Spring Poems 93
Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Composed on falling blossoms"
Grieving for mountain cherries that begin to fall as soon as they bloom, the poet begs the wind at least not to blow near the flowers. The poem holds both the transience of the blossoms and a poignant wish to keep them a little longer.
The Ruijū text places it in the section of poems from another manuscript and the printed edition.
Line 1 gives a settled condition, "when they bloom," leading to how briefly they last.
Line 2: katsu means "at once, meanwhile," and utsurou means to fade or fall.
Line 3 addresses the mountain cherries, and the poem pauses here.
Line 4 names the place where the wind should not blow.
Line 5 adds the exclamatory mo to the prohibitive na…so. Where 36 called on the rain not to fall so hard, here the poet calls on the wind.
- Author
- Minamoto no Sanetomo
- Source
- Kinkaishu
- Prev Poem
-
Haru kureba itoka no yama no itozakura kaze ni midarete hana zo chirikeru
- Next Poem
-
Haru fukami hana chirikakaru yama no i wa furuki shimizu ni kawazu naku nari